A $300 PS3 makes us reevaluate the value of standalone Blu-ray players.
(Credit: CNET)For most of Blu-ray's existence, the PlayStation 3 has easily been the best value in home theater. Only recently have we reviewed Blu-ray players that come close to matching its performance, speed, and functionality, while costing about the same amount.
The $300 PS3 Slim changes the marketplace considerably. Standalone Blu-ray players that offer similar performance to the PS3, like the LG BD390 and Samsung BD-P3600, used to offer some savings over PS3, but now they actually cost a little more. How can these standalone players expect us to pay more?
If you want to use the PS3 with a universal remote, you'll have to pay extra for an IR-to-Bluetooth converter.
The standalone players have a few points in their favor. The most obvious is the ease-of-use, as they behave nearly identically to DVD players, making them easier for tech novices to use. The players also all have IR receptors, which make them easy to integrate with universal remotes without buying a pricey IR-to-Bluetooth converter.
Blu-ray players from Samsung and LG also feature Netflix and Pandora streaming, which are generally better options than Sony's pricey movie store. More expensive players, like the LG BD390 and Samsung BD-P3600, also feature 7.1 analog outputs, making them better choices for those with older, non-HDMI AV receivers who still want to experience Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio at their full resolution.
Even considering those factors, the PS3 Slim is an easy choice for anyone even slightly interested in high-def gaming or network media streaming. (Some Blu-ray players feature media streaming, but the PS3 offers a better overall experience.) We can still see the LG BD390 (currently our top-rated standalone player) being a better choice for some buyers, but we feel like the price is going to have to drop to stay competitive as the holidays get closer.
Standalone Blu-ray players may not be as overpriced as they were a year ago, but the PS3 Slim makes them seem like less of a value.
What do you think? Does the ease-of-use of standalone players, plus streaming features like Netflix, make them worthy competitors of the PS3 Slim? Or is the PS3 Slim now easily the value for the tech-savvy looking to get into Blu-ray?
In 2009, it's not enough for a Blu-ray player to just play Blu-ray movies. With the ubiquity of online media streaming services, such as Netflix and Amazon Video On Demand, consumers already expect Blu-ray players to offer a wide variety of standard-definition, instant-gratification media options to complement their high-definition Blu-ray experience.
LG was the first company to realize this trend with the BD300--the first Blu-ray player with Netflix streaming--and the company's flagship Blu-ray player, the BD390 stays a step ahead of the competition with its outstanding feature set--Netflix, YouTube, CinemaNow, built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi (a first), 7.1 analog outputs, geek-friendly MKV-video file playback over USB, and 1GB of onboard memory.
Even better, the BD390 is an excellent Blu-ray player, with top-notch image quality, lightning fast load times, and onboard decoding for all the high-resolution audio soundtracks. The biggest knock against the BD390 is its $400 list price; that's the same as Sony's PS3, which is still a better value if you're into gaming. If you're not, the LG BD390 is our top pick for premium standalone Blu-ray players, narrowly besting the competing Samsung BD-P3600.
On Sale Now: $359.99 - $449.00
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We're putting the final touches on our review of the LG BD390 (the full review will be up soon), but we've wrapped up our testing of its CinemaNow functionality. We've had some experience with CinemaNow as a PC-centric download service, but the BD390 is the first standalone product with streaming CinemaNow functionality that we've seen. The service is similar to Apple TV, Vudu, or Amazon Video On Demand, allowing you to rent ($3-$4) or buy ($10-$20) movies and stream them over a broadband connection.
(Credit:
CNET/Sarah Tew)
The LG BD390 already includes Netflix streaming, so the advantage of CinemaNow is that it includes some new releases that aren't available for Netflix streaming; Netflix's streaming catalog is heavy on older releases. There's no doubt CinemaNow includes some new releases that Netflix doesn't have ("Appaloosa," "W," "The Spirit," "Transporter 3"), but the selection feels much smaller than Amazon's; we couldn't find any of the most popular movies on Amazon ("Bride Wars," "Slumdog Millionaire," "Marley & Me," "Twilight") on CinemaNow. (CinemaNow wouldn't disclose how large the current library is, except that "thousands" of titles are available.) ... Read more
(Credit:
CBS Interactive)
We've already seen the entry-level LG BD370, but now we've gotten a glimpse of the step-up Blu-ray player in LG's 2009 line-up: the BD390. The BD390 includes all of the features of its little brother--DVD upscaling, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD audio, BD-Live/Profile 2.0 support, and the ability to stream online video from Netflix, YouTube, and CinemaNow. But it also adds some nice ...
Read the full post at CNET's CES 2009 blog.
On Sale Now: $359.99 - $449.00
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